On the afternoon of September 26, Song Chunhua, the former Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and former president of the Architectural Society of China (ASCC), and his wife, Zhang Shujun, consulting chief architect of CCTC, Cao Jiaming, vice chairman of ASCC and president of Shanghai Architectural Society, Li Cundong, secretary-general of ASCC, and Zhang Junjie, president of East China Architectural Design Institute, visited Art Pioneer Studio and had an exchange with the APS team on issues of urban renewal, urban space construction, and public art. Afterward, led by APS's founder, Ms. Robin Wong, former Deputy Minister Song and Chairman Cao, visited the "2019 Shanghai Urban Space Art Season" executed by APS. The 5.5 km of public space along the southern section of the Yangpu riverfront has been successfully installed various permanent works of art. Mr. Song and Mr. Cao praised the project and expressed its significant role as a model for developing an urban environment and public art in China.

The "2019 Shanghai Urban Space Art Season", a 5.5km public space in the southern section of the Yangpu Riverfront, is featured on the acclaimed journal Architectural Practice, sponsored by the Architectural Society of China. This special issue for the 2020 edition entitled “City Creation, Art Uploaded: The Pioneering Initiative of Chinese Public Art," was officially released recently. Minister Song Chunhua's preface for the special issue, "The Present and Future of Public Art in China" - an in-depth analysis of this project's relevance to the building of urban culture today -elaborates on the characteristics of this project including, "tailor-made, prime location and site-specificity"; "creating new sites of memories through a cluster of artworks"; "focusing on quality and sophistication"; and "having an open attitude in organizing cross-discipline collaborations" etc.

Former Deputy Minister Song Chunhua has been focusing on and concerned about public art research and practice. He has presided over and participated in the creation of many major urban public art projects, such as "Mother of the Yellow River," "Changchun World Sculpture Garden," and "The statue of the young Mao Zedong at Juzizhou" and "Monument to Beichuan Earthquake Relief," and so on. Minister Song's article "Cultural Expression in Urban Public Space" stated, "The common issue that city administrators, planners, designers and artists confront today is how to solve the problem of cultural expression in public space. In other words, how to implant public art and generate the spirit of specific sites in physical public space, that afford the place with humanistic atmosphere, and better showcases the city's elegance, which would fulfill the public’s need for cultural and aesthetic experience at the spiritual level."

Architectural Practice, 2020 Special Issue：“City Creation, Art Uploaded: The Pioneering Initiative of Chinese Public Art.”